I'd like to address some of these other critical reviews, thought by thought, as most are intelligent people who are asking all the right questions but cannot accept the answers they are coming up with. Your right FW is not "readable", in the normal sense. If you must have a good, solid story, a "page turner", which entertains you and that you finally "get", a story where the meaning is clear: then STOP right now. This book is not any of those things. Its "intention" is to disorient and confuse, to produce an "aesthetic arrest" and to be an epiphany. FW will never be a blockbuster movie, Hollywood will not touch this. Finn again A WAKE is written, kind of, sort of, in english. One reviewer called it a crossword puzzle in novel form, she is partially right. You can read other [negative] comments from the more simple-minded reviews too, but time has and will prove these knuckleheads wrong. Some claim intellectual independence as a smoke screen but they are hiding behind a myopic view of art and they do not want to put in the effort to research the references and push for a bigger picture. Other reviewers say it doesn't mean anything, Isn't poetry or music but there is a personal hatred to their reviews that tells me they are mad at the art work for not revealing itself, clearly, to them. This group is reviewing and revealing their own frustrations at not being able to conceive of or make great art. True critics, I suppose. They want to defend their defination of what art is, for everyone. This group is quite adamant and takes FW personally, like they are on a crusade to inform the world. I suppose, Joyce has worked his Irish magic on them too.. their banner reads:
Books, ultimately, are read for the quality of the ideas they express, and the quality of the style used to express them.
critics want to define artistic "quality". In any case, the "ideas" of FW have universal essence and are of an epic nature. Unfortunately, some reviewers want the transcendent nature of life to be clear, right in front of them, religion is what other people do and everything is just as it seems. Look, some great works of art do not speak to all, [Picasso's - la guerre] but make no mistake; this book is an incredible work of word art BUT does not reveal itself easily OR to everybody and that is exactly what Joyce wanted, he wanted a few sensitive and intelligent readers to experience an epiphany about the cycles of death, life, myth, history, love, war, hate, sex[lots of sex], "social marketing", male female, brother, sister, mother father- how these patterns of archetype forces affect us, this is another "reality", parallel to ours but in dark matter; [Unconscious and subconscious]. FW is not describing these forces but placing us in them by disorienting us, making the reader become part of a jumbled up night world of myth and universal cycles. How these forces of life affect us is a confusing book during the day [James Joyce's Ulysses] but at night they really go off [Finnegans Wake]. People, It doesn't get any more insightful than that.
Another reviewer, a Mr. T.Powerless, who wrote a review of the "FW Skeleton Key", - keeps asking:
What you think this book is trying to say in its 600+ pages of indeciperhable ramblings (and some proof would be nice)
How he can write a review of a book about the meaning of FW and still keep asking this questions is befuddling. His theory is that it is all just random letters [never mind the puns and historical stuff] and there is no meaning and that all the smart people have been fooled, except him. Finnegans Wake is 95% "deciphered" but something is lost in trying to put this art book in sound bites or one-sentence sayings. Take the phrase "reveiling the night". It is "saying" several things at once, each makes sense but it is also mixed up, obscure and in the mystery of the conjoining of mixed up words, is the art. There are straight forward ideas that can be expressed from FW: one of my favorites- how we should strive for things and concepts that uplift the spirit and these will pull us together, because they inspires us as one people, not on material stuff that separate us, but- really, so what, another "good" idea but silly in a way. Like the "ideas" of Hamlet: often puerile, but with Shakespeare's brilliance take on new life. And, when JJ writes the brilliant connotations are imbued in his art. The art is lost in my translations. Yes, but the critic keeps asking, its not clear and What does it MEAN, - but... what is meaning and is meaning always clear?? The hackneyed haiku: the sound of one hand clapping?- what does it mean? The meaning is a paradox or another question. all those things that do not have a sound when struck, but what does that mean? It is not about the meaning of life it is about the feeling of being alive. If you must have a meaning rather than another perspective, understanding or an epiphany: Warning: stop reading FW before you get mad. Clearly, T.Powerless kept reading, couldn't find what it was saying and became irritated.
However, FW, as a bit of a mixed up crossword puzzle, demands an explanation, a guide, patience, translations and a key. The best starting points are John Bishop's book and Joseph Campbell's " A Skeleton Key to FW". In other words, FW MUST ALSO BE STUDIED LIKE A TEXT BOOK, clues must be researched and an adventure game like quality to the mysteries and the possible solutions can be fun. yes, for some tracking down the sources and uses of JJ words and relating it to the essence of a sentence or chapter is part of the mystery. Others see The historical period of FW reflected in the work: pre World War II. Freud and Jung going at it, Picasso and Matisse going off, it was a heady time for all the western cultures. AND to top it off Joyce dies sudenly 6 months after the book is published in 1941!!! Although Joyce hated FW to be called surreal, FW is an abstract work of art and as such, like any great conceptual or complex philosophy [Nietzsche or Wittgenstein] or abstract art, is extremely personal and open to much interpretation. One can get several versions of exactly what is being "said" from the same passage; this really upsets the material minded and if you are not prepared for this kind of art or thought or are resistant to abstract art then, chances are, FW will be/ is gibberish to you. As The above reviewer states correctly: a good work must have great style, FW has a style of immense complexity and quality but NOT great clarity, intentionly.
FW is a huge Irish joke about the cycles of human life, art and thought. There is a twisted sense of humor in this Irish consciousness making a sad joke of life; the punch line is about the Devine Comedy of existence. FW is also an intentional riddle with several answers; the 60 different languages, puns, portmanteaus [the crossword part] with historical and mythical referances as well. the reader can wander and wonder about this book of life for hours or years. At times, like any fine work of abstract art: it reveals the artist and viewer more than the "reality" of the subject. No, FW can not be translated into another "language", no it was not written in the way other books are, The 4 books were not written in order and can be understood as independent sketches on different and recurring themes. Yes, joyce had a comprehensive and firm intention when he wrote it. If you start to dig and study the text the book becomes an obscure magic workbook about the recycled archetypical nights of human consciousness. However, unless you are a scholar, you must study the philology or it becomes drivel and unless you have an open mind and can embrace obscurity the work quickly becomes irritating. The sound of the words can be helpful and so some find that FW is often less abstract if read out loud. Like the Hindu vedas, which are songs or hymns, FW has a lyrical quality when read out loud too. In any case the puzzle must be solved in the dark as characters, stories, change, transmute; opposites are defined and then become one and need each other and then digress again. The simple "story" has been figured out, the references have exhaustedly been researched for the last 70 years and still there are mysteries to this work. Joyce intended this too and future generations will appreciate, miss understand and wonder, love/hate it, fight over and review this book!
No, not everything printed on paper is literature and not all words are found in a dictionary, not all communication is with words, from the dictionary, or for that matter verbal. So the one reviewer that says he doesn't dream in puns and his dreams are about "something" is confusing the description of a dream with the conjuring of the "reality" of a dream world, using language. the difference between going to the movies or describing the movie. Joyce is NOT trying to describe a dream; he is trying to put you in a dream cycle of life forces in motion. JJ is comunicating with strange english sounding words to make a language of dreams. Joyce's subconscious, night world is obscure, intentionally, like "real" dreams. This bothers people, just as their own dreams do. This night book has stages, like the night, but there is no meaning to the actual story or beginning or end, the individual dreams have "meanings" and there is a progression but, like reincarnation or purgatory, there is no end or beginning . How do you escape such a work of art? perhaps a third book about Nirvana or Paradise: a simple book, like the Paridiso of the Devine Comedy. Cambell thought this was in the works when JJ died.
I'm sure the greatest thing is NOT to listen or watch the defenders of FW. Although there are some fascinating works on the Wake and Dante, Vico, the Egyptian book of the dead, the book of Krells, Cabala, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Talmud and lots of dream consciousness-etc. My suggestion is to read or scan it, with JC's "Skeleton Key" or Tindall's so you can get a sense of what is being said, see which of the 4 books speaks to you and then start digging on your own, the best annotated guide is now on the internet, John Bishop's book is insightful. he also wrote the intro to the Penguin edition. Stop after a while, put it down, read some other stuff, pick it up later. I knew almost nothing of the philosopher Vico and had not read Dante. James Joyce was a true artistic personality and scholar and, as an eccentric, sardonic Irish scholar, he wanted to be obscure and drive all the other [Irish and non Irish] scholars nuts. NON SERVIAM I am slave to none- was the motto he lived by. This book is intentionally obscure and Joyce is known to have re written parts that were not obscure enough!! WHY? Again, dreams can have several meanings because the dreamer and the dream are one. the dreamer/reader must decide which meaning is pertinent to the story and to your own story and see if it fits. There is a subjective part to making something abstract and a subjective part to interpretation the art. Unfortunately, this vagueness plus the references and language threw the doors open to the cross winds of scholarly conjecture. At the end, however, Joyce is communicating something powerful, eternal [not about time] and wondrous but the reader/dreamer must be prepared to study, dig deep and interpret and sometimes just guess. A Warning label would say: it took him 15 years to write it. 1] There is no bottom 2] the journey is "reveiling". - if FW doesn't speak to you, that's cool; just don't say there is nothing there if you can't find or see it.
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